1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fuse holders for an electrical circuit and in particular to the electrical contacts within the fuse holder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art includes a variety of cartridge fuse holders for electrical circuits. In a typical arrangement, the fuse holder is provided with a tubular body having an electrical contact at each of its ends adapted to engage the respective terminals on the ends of the fuse. Additionally, some means is usually provided to tighly clamp the electrical contacts to the terminals to minimize electrical resistence in the joints between the contacts and the terminals.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,910,562 and 3,546,661 are fairly representative of the fuse holders heretofore in use. Each of those fuse holders is provided with a tubular body or casing adapted to retain a cartridge fuse, and an electrical contact at each end of the body adapted to engage the terminals on the ends of the fuse. As shown in those patents, one of the contacts is fixed or stationary within the body and the other contact is movably mounted in an arrangement incorporating a spring to bias the moveable contact against its adjacent fuse terminal in a fashion which also tightly clamps together the contact and the fuse terminal at the other end of the fuse. Each of the movable contacts includes a round or tubular shaft reciprocably mounted through one of the ends of the body which has a relatively flat head adapted to engage its adjacent terminal. While this arrangement has proven to be very effective in maintaining the integrity of the electrical joints within the fuse holder, it is relatively expensive to fabricate and assemble. For example, in both of the fuse holders shown, it has generally been necessary to die stamp the outer ends of the tublar shafts after they are assembled within their respective fuse holders and then planish those ends to the thickness required to accommodate the quick connect type sockets proscribed for the particular fuse holder concerned.